On the roadmap towards the carbon neutral production of cellulose ethers, the realistic and reliable assessment of the statusquo marked the first milestone for us. It is the logical fundament upon which the diverse strategic efforts such as technical measures and process optimisation can be based. In addition, many topics including the careful inspection of the overall value chain is also part of our journey towards enhanced sustainability.
One of our first decisions was to follow the European Commission’s recommendation to apply the environmental footprint (EF) methods as a powerful, scientifically proven tool to conduct a complete Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which is fully compliant with EN ISO 14400 and 14004.
With this approach, the overall result allows for the assessment of all usual impact categories without the commonly found limitation of only quantifying a CO2 footprint as per Global Warming Potential (GWP in CO2 equivalents). This means the less well-known impacts of cellulose ether production on the environment, e.g. water depreciation potential (WDP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication (EP) or ozone depletion (ODP) are specified, including impacts from raw material sourcing, transport to our facility and ultimately to our customers.
We think that our above-average commitment is well justified. We have conducted the product specific LCA by means of a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF).
Based on this, SE Tylose was worldwide the first company to publish an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) of methyl cellulose and hydroxyethyl cellulose ethers. Since January 2024 we have been in the position to specify in detail all environmental impacts associated with our operations and our product. The EPD document is based on primary data from our production lines in Germany and has been third-party verified. No secondary data had to be utilised so that also uncertainties could be reduced.
Further details are explained in our video about the environmental product declaration of SE Tylose.
The EPDs sometimes appear to be somewhat harder to read than, for example, the results of a study according to the Green house gas (GHG) protocol or a product carbon footprint (PCF, ISO 14067). Indeed, these systems focus solely on global warming as environmental impact category. The product system analysed can include scope 1+2 and -voluntarily- also scope 3 or just parts thereof, i.e. a selection of upstream and/or downstream categories. The EPD on the other hand has somewhat higher complexity as a well-defined number of impact categories have to be evaluated and presented. Consequently, the EPD documents of different producers of a similar product offer the reader a better comparability since a fixed set of environmental impacts as well as a defined system boundary are mandatory throughout all EPD program holders.
Clearly, all assessments and metrics have their justification and ideal applications. However, it is of utmost importance to bear in mind that the specified figures such as CO2-eq for the product-specific GWP can be conducted based on different scenarios.
Our product specific results are well suited and appropriate for those customers who are planning to aggregate their corporate or product specific environmental performance using a selected assessment approach.
Our next milestones have also been defined. First, we will be aggregating data for an Organisational Environmental Footprint (OEF), that is the similar EC-recommended metric, including all impact categories, but now on the company and not the product level. We will then continue and specify the Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF) according to GHG protocol since the database has been essentially elaborated already.
The mentioned before, the assessment of sustainability of our product’s and our company’s environmental footprints marks just the fundament. Consequently, we are currently in the process of establishing feasible mitigation strategies. The impacts associated with our operations are deemed to be reduced within a clear schedule and explicit targets in a credible, science-based manner. Hence, we are enroute towards a clear CO2 reduction strategy which is fully compliant with the Shin-Etsu group climate targets and existing legal regulations and targets, both on national as well as on European level.
We are focusing on a comprehensive approach to supplier management which aligns with sustainability and ethical standards.
We are evaluated on environmental impact, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.
